Starting at 6.00pm BST this evening, a province wide hosepipe ban will be enacted across the whole of Northern Ireland with NI Water has appealed for people not to use water for washing cars, filling pools, or sprinkling gardens, as supply failures have already hit some areas.
It comes as temperatures are set to hit 29C on Friday, just a fraction lower than highs of 30.5C Thursday which is going to come as bad news for the 25 fighters are battling a major gorse fire on the Glenshane Pass, which has been burning for three days and now has a front up to 500m long.
And it gets worse as a man is arrested for causing a grass fire in Bolton, not far from the fire on Saddleworth Moor.
Man arrested on suspicion of arson in Lancashire
Hi Harry,
I never heard that condition expressed as a “hosepipe” ban – over here in the U.S. we just place “water restrictions” on personal uses such as washing cars, watering lawns, etc. Very interesting!
And what is a “gorse fire” on the Glenshane Pass? Never heard that term “gorse” before.
Whatever the case, we are both having uncomfortably hot temps. We may top the 35°C mark for our Sunday and Monday high temps… Right now it is about 32.5°C (90.3° F – just converted in my head )
Stay cool and hydrated! I am living in the A/C here in my apartment.
Cheerio!
Kevin
The reason why hosepipe bans are called hosepipe bans comes from the drought of 1976 when the Government actually passed a law preventing the use of hosepipes for anything and since then the term has stuck for any regulation that prevents the free use of water, although actually the problem is not the lack of water (there’s plenty around) it’s the speed at which the water is being used that is the problem (with people up hills experiencing low or no pressure)
Gorse is a type of flowering shrub found on hillsides (or in our case here on the sides of cliffs) and just like any other type of brush when it dries it burns very easily
https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/images/reserves/minsmere/gorse1014210.jpg
Thanks Harry. Very colorful, beautiful picture of the gorse in bloom. Guess it doesn’t look like that picture now.
The only point I was making about hosepipes is that here in the U.S. we don’t use that term that I know of. We have, as I said, terms like “water restriction” or a ban on “washing cars” or spinkling your lawn. I am not sure that we have much problem with lack of pressure to reach hilly locations. We have plenty of hilly locations that water must be pumped to but never heard that as a cause to water restrictions. Interesting! Thanks!
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